They Are Always Brave
by Shirerose
Summary: The Doctor meets Lorna Bucket for the second time long before the Battle at Demon's Run. Which was the first time she meet him...because the life of a Time Lord is beyond perplexing.


Just a little piece explaining why the Doctor doesn't remember Lorna, for all his failings he always seems to remember people.

* * *

THEY ARE ALWAYS BRAVE

* * *

" _The only water in the forest is the river"  
-River Song_

Something large and explosive hit the ground far to near for any sane persons' comfort. Which just went to prove, in Rory's humble opinion that anyone who voluntarily traveled with the doctor was _not_ strictly sane. A fact which sadly said little of the mental stability of himself, his wife and his daughter…not to mention said daughter's mad alien husband.

Who was also his best friend.

And who was currently being chased through a forest of startlingly vibrant trees, whose colors ranged from indigo to emerald and everywhere in-between. Rory decided that they would have been much more beautiful if they were not passing by with increasing swiftness to the tune of Sontaran laser-fire.

He ducked as another shot swept above his head, suddenly grateful for his training as a Roman. It certainly came in handy on occasion. Amy was running just ahead of him, her long red hair streaming behind as she followed River on some unseen trail that wove through the giant trunks of the Gamma Forest trees.

Amy, River, self…someone was missing, why was he not surprised?

"Where is the Doctor?"

Amy turned her head for a split second, a frantic look in her eye. Alas, the trees were completely innocent of even a hint of tweed-wearing time-travelers.

Ahead, River skidded to a stop and turned sharply to her right, her brassy hair vanishing into darkness. Rory found himself tumbling down an abrupt and gravelly slope to land on something bony and alive.

"Oi, stupid face! That hurts, get off now!" moaned Amy peevishly and Rory hastened to comply as River shushed them with a sharp whisper. In the darkness and the silence they watched as Sontarans sped by.

The three moved carefully forward along the newly-discovered tunnel, River having pulled a long futuristic torch from somewhere, (probably a special Time-Lord manufactured bigger-on-the-inside pocket) thought Rory.

"The Doctor?" asked Amy urgently.

* * *

Ten minutes and two-hundred or so trees away the Doctor was staring intently at a little dark hair-haired human.

Large brown eyes stared up curiously. The Doctor's hazel eyes looked back thoughtfully. A human girl, maybe about seven or eight with a face that was vaguely familiar, as though he known her before but at a distance, in a mirror or parallel universe.

Laser-fire sounded in the distance as he reached out his hand and caught her small fingers in it.

"What's your name?" he asked quietly.

"Lorna Bucket, who are you?"

His hand closed reflexively over hers' as he realized who she was. Suddenly it all made sense. But there was no time to ponder the unfairness of time so he managed a grin.

"I'm the Doctor."

"Doctor Who?"

"The Doctor . And Lorna…run."

They ran together past the indigo trees, past trees that were tardis blue until they reached a stand of violet trunks that thinned into a glade.

The ground shivered under the feet of the Sontarans and the Doctor sighed. Ahead was a tall white cliff and around him were less-then-dense trees, Sontarans closing in from every side and a little girl who he failed long before he first met her.

It was ironic that he, a Time Lord should be so often out of time. But he had always worked best under pressure and Lorna was depending on him. He swung her up over his head and onto the lowest tree branch whispering for her to stay silent and still.

His hands fiddled in his pockets as he groped through years of belongings. Something long and thin…no that was a flute he had picked up on Gliese Prime, a banana, a small wooden box with carvings, a can of air freshener…a metal rod and many round somethings.

He smiled.

Above Lorna watched nervously. She had heard of the Doctor before. There were stories about a man like no other. A renegade and an outcast from his own people, who would mysteriously appear wherever there was trouble. The Time Lord who had destroyed the Daleks and his own people to end the worst war of all of time.

He didn't look dark and scary like the legends; he had smiled at her and kept her safe. Now, Lorna almost wished he had been dark and terrifying like the stories because she had no idea how he was going to escape the Sontarans that were surrounding him.

Indeed he looked young and very vulnerable from above, dark hair falling messily in his eyes as he stood his hands in his coat pockets.

"Doctor" growled one of the Sontarans as he stepped forward his laser trained on the man before him.

"Oh, hello" returned the Doctor pleasantly, "I don't suppose asking politely would make you leave?"

"I am Statoor, the Invincible, and you Doctor will die by my hand"

"Will I? Aren't you forgetting something?" continued the Doctor, "Something…important?" His hand twitched in his pocket.

"What am I forgetting? Sontarans do not forget anything!"

Something small and round whistled through the air as the Doctor whipped a tennis racket from his pocket.

"Probic vent" laughed the Doctor as he sent another Sontaran collapsing to the ground and dodged a burst of laser fire.

He spun around sending another round of tennis balls bouncing off the trees with unerring accuracy.

Lorna watched wide-eyed as the last of the Sontarans fell and the Doctor slipped the tennis racket back into his improbably small pocket.

"Not bad?" he asked grinning, "Never know when a tennis racket might come in handy."

Lorna said nothing.

The smile slid away replaced by worry as he lifted her down and looked her over.

"Are you all right?" he asked, his eyes gentle and concerned.

Lorna nodded.

Satisfied that she wasn't hiding any injuries he picked her up.

"Which way is your family?"

Lorna looked around.

"That way" she decided finally, pointing along the cliff-face, "What are you going to do with the potato people?"

"Oi" snorted the Doctor, "Why does everyone call them that? You humans are going to rub off on me one of these days." He stopped.

"But that's not what you asked is it? I am going to teleport them back to their ship and then find them a nice empty planet were they cannot hurt anyone else."

"So they're not dead?" asked Lorna.

"Oh, not at all" the Doctor assured her, "Just knocked out for a bit, might have a bit of a headache when they wake up. Oh, and Statoor won't be the Invincible anymore but otherwise no harm done."

They had reached a new stretch of trees by the time the Doctor finished rambling and the sound of running water became clear as they stopped before a green enclosure.

Houses and city buildings could be seen over top of the wall. The architecture was magnificent, simple and mostly unadorned but all sweeping curves and delicate angles, its beauty lying chiefly in its modesty. Right through the center of the green city ran the river, dark blue water swirling under the wall as it disappeared.

"I am alright now" said Lorna confidently as she slipped from his grasp and ran towards the city. Her hand rested on a blank portion of the wall, which swung back to reveal an arched opening. As she stepped inside she turned for a moment.

"Will I ever see you again?" she called out.

The Doctor smiled sadly, "Course you will, Lorna Bucket."

 _But I'll never see you again_ he thought, _because I already watched you die, and I can no more go back and see you than I can go back and show little Amelia Pond my Tardis._

And if his eyes glinted a little as he turned back to deal with the Sontarans, who could blame him?

* * *

Amelia and Rory were now properly worried and even River seemed rather anxious.

"I thought he was right behind you" Amelia pointed out turning towards her husband.

"Well, I thought that too" Rory griped back, "Maybe he found something interesting and wandered off?"

"How close behind you were the Sontarans?" asked River, "Is there any way he could have been hit and…"

Her voice trailed off as a shadow crossed the opening to their hideaway.

"Hello, Ponds" called a very familiar voice, "Is my wife with you?"

"Doctor?" gasped Amy.

"In the flesh…what are you all doing down there anyways. The Sontarans are gone, you missed all the fun this time."

"Seriously, you didn't save any for us" complained River as they emerged rather muddily into the sunlight, to find the Doctor absently bouncing a ball on his tennis racket.

"Is that a tennis racket?" asked Rory disbelievingly.

"Oi, this tennis racket just knocked out all ten Sontarans, I'll have you know."

"Really?" asked Amy.

"Really"

River noticed that he seemed more scratched up than before and a bit off.

"Are you alright?" she asked looking him in the eye.

"Oh, I am fine, I am always fine" he answered lightly, his eyes dimmed and became distant and shadowed, "I just found a little girl in the woods and took her home."

"And?"

"They don't have any ponds here in the forest, no lakes or streams, just the river. Her name was Lorna Bucket."


End file.
